Treatments

Diagnosis

Pain is personal and subjective, no test that can measure and locate it with precision, so doctors rely on the patient’s own description of the type, timing, and location of pain. Defining pain as sharp or dull, constant or on-and-off, or burning or aching may give the best clues to the cause of the pain. These descriptions are part of one’s pain history, which is taken during the start of the evaluation of a patient with pain.
Treatment plans should be tailored with input from healthcare team members with different training backgrounds. The patient and their loved ones should be actively involved in the treatment.

Diagnosing Methods

There is no test to measure pain, no test can measure the intensity of pain, no imaging device can show pain, and no instrument can locate pain precisely. Often the best aid to diagnosis is the patient's own description of the type, duration, and location of pain. Defining pain as sharp or dull, constant or intermittent, burning or aching may give the best clues to the cause of pain. These descriptions are part of what is called the pain history, taken by the physician during the preliminary examination of a patient with pain.
Physicians have a number of ways to find the cause of pain. Primarily:

• EMG can help physicians tell precisely which muscles or nerves are affected by weakness or pain. Thin needles are inserted in muscles and a physician can see or listen to electrical signals displayed on an EMG machine.

• X-rays produce pictures of the body's structures such as bones and joints.

• Unlike an X-ray, an MRI can provide clear pictures of soft tissue structures. An MRI can detect soft tissue and nerve damage, and can show differences between healthy and unhealthy tissues. Your doctor may use an MRI if he suspects vertebral disc problems, nerve damage or even to get a closer look at joint structures.

• A neurological examination in which the doctor tests movement, reflexes, sensation, balance, and coordination.

Treatments

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